PassiveAggressiveNotes.com » art

But do people recognize ‘fine art’ when they see it?

Kerry — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 05:29:28 +0000

At the local art exhibit of the Utah State Fair: a smug reminder of what we already know, thankyouverymuch. As our submitter wrote, “We’re not animals, after all!”

related: Signed, R. Mutt

An artistic phallacy

Kerry — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 14:00:02 +0000

Says Michael, of this note from the bulletin board of his college dorm: “It pretty much speaks for itself.”

related: Body hair is unsanitary!

extra credit: A brief survey of blatantly phallic art [flavorwire.com]

A different sort of case for the International Criminal Court

Kerry — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 02:02:22 +0000

First, a bit of global trivia: The Hague may be best known for its war crimes tribunals, but the Netherlands’ third-largest city is also home to one of the best-known masterworks of Dutch art, Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring. And second, something you probably already know: we Americans (at home or abroad) can be pretty obnoxious sometimes. Rachel from Santa Clarita, California can talk to you about all of the above.

While visiting the Vermeers at the Hague’s Mauritshuis Museum, she stumbled upon this entry in the guestbook from a fellow Californian. In fairness, Rachel says, “The writer does have a point; the way that the paintings are displayed makes it difficult to see/appreciate them. But I think trying the curator in the Hague is a tad excessive.”

It is a crime against humanity to place the Girl w/ a Pearl Earring against a dark green background It should be placed over a light gray background to optically recover the tone of the painting. The museographer should be tried and condemned right here in the Hague. Y.J. (an art critic and painter from LA)

related: The art of passive resistance

You could be a part-time model

Kerry — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 23:07:36 +0000

New Year’s Eve, Miami, 2010: “A man handed me this and then walked away without a word,” our submitter recalls. “I was tipsy enough to be flattered for a moment.”

extra credit: “The Most Beautiful Girl (In the Room)” [youtube.com]

Dear parents: this is what you WON’T be hearing from your newly minted college grads

Kerry — Mon, 23 May 2011 02:27:11 +0000

(After all, once they’ve moved back home into their old bedrooms, they can just raid your liquor cabinet and sneak bills from your wallet, just like old times!)

Meanwhile, this note/social critique was spotted by James in downtown Iowa City, “amid dozens of bars and thousands of over-privileged young suburbanites.”

If, however, your entrepreneurial kiddos do decide to strike out their own, you might want to keep tabs on the Sudafed in the medicine cabinet. (Especially if “on their own” means “the room above the garage.”)

Technological Warfare

Kerry — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 03:48:47 +0000

First off, hat tip to the cranky guerilla artist who plastered the bus stops at Rachel’s college campus yesterday with these posters.

(Of course, like the good citizen and PAN-ista that she is, Rachel promptly snapped and sent this pic to us using her BlackBerry.)

But speaking of art on campus…how’s that for a segue? — I can’t look at this piece from Matt’s dorm in Reno without hearing it as a Daft Punk song. (That’s probably thanks to far too much time spent playing around with iDaft…time which I do not regret one bit.)

Okay everyone, let’s get this riot started. Go text this post to all your friends!

related: Daft Flush

extra credit: iDaft: une vidéo funny [dailymotion.com];

Daft Hands [youtube.com]

Signed, R. Mutt

Kerry — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 22:18:53 +0000

What’s wrong with America today? If you ask Jason in Los Angeles, it’s people who don’t return their shopping carts. At least, that’s the action that prompted this note (which was originally attached the the upright cart itself).

That note, in turn, inspired this Dadaist creation:

related: Untitled (Broken Glass)

A solid argument for liquid soap

Kerry — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 20:33:28 +0000

When men and women are forced to share a bathroom, our submitter in Philadelphia explains, “sometimes gentle reminders are needed to keep the household hygiene at an acceptable level.”

And as Meghan the intern discovered during a summer gig in New York City, sometimes those gentle reminders bear repeating at the office, too.

related: Rocketpubes.com

Need another reason to ditch the elevator for the stairs? Two words: nose grease.

Kerry — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 22:12:43 +0000

Our submitter, April, fills us in on a little background: The CMB building on the UT-Austin campus is home to Austin’s local PBS station, KLRU, and NPR affiliate, KUT, as well as classrooms for the University’s Radio-TV-Film department.

Apparently, one of the jokers frequenting this building is fond of pressing his or her nose on the surface of the stainless steel elevator doors — or at least that’s the conclusion drawn by the exasperated author of the following screed.

It’s called “performance art.”

Kerry — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 02:52:05 +0000

Based on this example — spotted by Erin in the employee restroom of an AT&T Store in Los Angeles — I think the Kiwis have a clear edge over us Yanks…at least when it comes to smartass bathroom snark.

extra credit: National stereotypes according to Google Autofill [buzzfeed.com]

The joys of motherhood

Kerry — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 01:43:49 +0000

Writes Sarah: “This note was written to me after I told my seven-year-old daughter to go to her room until she felt like being nice. I’m still trying to figure out what she really feels. Was it love mingled with regret…or slathering me with goodness in hopes of ending the misery in her room? Somehow I still think she meant what she originally said. Motherhood rocks!!!!”

Meanwhile, Laura in California writes: ”My six-year-old daughter misbehaved at school, so she couldn’t go to the harvest festival. This didn’t go over well, so she wrote me this threatening note. When I laughed, she took it back to add ‘I (am) serious.’”

And it’s not just the girls. Liev in Gainesville, Georgia received this from her six-year-old son when — while trying to get dinner on the table for five kids clamoring for her attention — she had to tell him she did not have time to look at his latest Lego creation right this second. “This is his drawing of me yelling at him. The thing above him is his broken heart.”

I think this is the best costume for today.

Kerry — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 01:58:43 +0000

Noah in Richmond, Virginia spotted this earnest plea in the bathroom of “a funky little coffee shop” on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. “The sign was also on a bulletin board in the middle of the shop as well,” he says — “just in case the thief was avoiding the scene of the crime.”

And if you doubt Edie’s ability to get aggressive on your personal-art-piece-thievin’ ass, just wait ’til she catches you in the act. We’ll see how your bathroom art collection looks when she’s through with you!

(I’d like to imagine the follow-up note going something like: “Damn it, Edie, no one wants to see your ‘personal art pieces.’ For the millionth time…FLUSH!“)

The art of passive resistance

Kerry — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:53:41 +0000

Travis in Edmonton says this painting (which “resembled a tenth-grader’s crack at designing fantasy novel jacket”) appeared one day in the alley behind the pub where he works. Feeling puckish, Travis says, “Every evening I would turn it toward the south-facing balconies…and every morning it would be face-down in the street again, until eventually it disappeared for good.”

No, no you can’t

Kerry — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 02:35:41 +0000

Writes our anonymous submitter from San Francisco: “I bought $50 worth of groceries at Trader Joe’s, my boyfriend made an awesome pizza out of [some of] them, and as we were watching a movie and eating some, my uber-bachelor roommate yelled through the door and asked if he could get a slice. The man has rice and soy protein on his shelf in the pantry, for almost two years has been replacing leftovers in the fridge with “IOUs,” and rarely makes anything worth sharing — not that we would impose. Sean said ‘yeah,’ I countered with ‘meh,’ and after 30 minutes of door-slamming, he left this note on the table — along with a sticker on our pizza that said ‘meh.’”

related: get your own